The ten largest public oil firms in the world reported combined profits of $46 billion for the first quarter of 2021, thanks to higher oil prices this year, data compiled by Anadolu Agency from financial statements showed this week.
The top ten firms that the agency analyzed—ExxonMobil, Chevron, Total, Shell, BP, Eni, Equinor, Lukoil, Rosneft, and Saudi Aramco—saw their combined profits rise by $8.5 billion due to the more favorable commodity price environment and signs of recovering demand.
To compare, in Q1 2020, when the pandemic hit oil demand and oil prices, only U.S. firm Chevron and the Saudi giant Aramco reported profits—of a total of $20.3 billion—while the other eight international and national oil majors lost a combined $17.7 billion, according to the estimates compiled by Anadolu Agency.
BP saw the largest increase in profit in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020, the agency’s calculations showed.
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BP reported a profit attributable to shareholders of $4.7 billion in Q1 2021, compared to a loss of $4.4 billion for the first quarter of 2020. The supermajor resumed share buybacks this quarter after more than tripling its first-quarter earnings from a year ago on the back of rising oil prices and “exceptional gas marketing and trading performance.”
BP reported underlying replacement cost profit—its proxy for net profit—of $2.63 billion, up from $791 million for the first quarter of last year and from just $115 million for the fourth quarter of 2020.
In terms of revenues, Anadolu Agency’s estimates show that combined revenues of the top ten oil firms increased by 6.6 percent annually to around $387 billion. Saudi Aramco’s revenues rose the most—by 20 percent to $80 billion.
The Saudi giant also reported a 30-percent jump in net income for the first quarter of the year to $21.7 billion.
